Morehead City bluefin run yields multiple 600-pound tuna catches
Morehead City kept coughing up giant bluefin, including a 614-pound fish that took more than an hour and several other 600-plus-pound tuna.
A 614-pound bluefin that took Tommy Adkins and Dale Jones more than an hour to land was impressive enough. The bigger story was that it was not alone.
On the Dec. 21 run aboard Fish N Frenzy, Adkins and Jones put a 102-inch giant on deck after a rough-water fight that made every minute feel longer. The crew trolled ballyhoo covered with Joe Shute lures picked up from Saltwater Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Beach, a simple setup that worked when the right fish showed up. In a fishery where the difference between a nice day and a season-defining one can be measured in one bite, that pairing of bait, lure and patience mattered.
The Morehead City dock talk did not stop with Fish N Frenzy. F/V LOBO TOO weighed in a 600-pound bluefin at Portside Marina on a Blue Water Candy Lures JAG rigged on a Baitmasters of South Florida ballyhoo. The Strike Eagle crew also added multiple 600-plus-pound tuna, including fish landed by Rachael Applebee and by Brandon Bond and Brett Lancaster. Capt. Andrew Gould’s crew was singled out for having the deadliest combo of the season with the same style of ballyhoo-and-lure rig. That is what separates this stretch from the usual late-season story, where one giant can carry the whole legend. Here, the giants kept coming.
That persistence is the real answer to the angler’s question: this was still a realistic shot, not just a great tale after the fact. NOAA Fisheries listed the Gulf of Maine and Southern New England trophy areas open as of May 6, while the South trophy area had already closed on Jan. 13. NOAA also said the recreational trophy bluefin fishery reopened Jan. 1, and charter/headboat and angling-category vessels may retain one trophy bluefin of 73 inches curved fork length or greater per vessel per year. In North Carolina, bluefin of 200 pounds or more qualify for a state tournament award, and fish 70 inches or longer can earn a release citation, which puts a 614-pound, 102-inch fish squarely in rarefied water.
A separate Morehead City report on a 1,005-pound bluefin near Beaufort Inlet only sharpened the point. When the same coast keeps producing fish in the 600-pound class and beyond, the run is not just a memory yet. It is a window, and Morehead City still looks like one worth chasing.
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